SHRC directs J&K police to register case against army

Srinagar, Sep 20 (UNI) The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has directed the Jammu and Kashmir police to register a case against Army for allegedly killing a youth in custody some 13 years ago.

The chairperson of the SHRC Justice (retd) M Y Kawoosa gave this direction on a petition filed by Nazira Akhter, a resident of Dooru in south Kashmir district of Anantnag, alleging that her husband Abdul Hamid Ganaie, was killed by the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in custody and later described him as a militant in August 1994.

The Commission recommended to the government through Chief Secretary to pay Rs 2 lakh to the next-of-the-kin of the deceased within one month.

She said RR troops stationed at Verinag killed Hamid, a daily wager in the Public Health Engineering department at Panzath, Qazigund on August 2,1994.

In the petition she said that police refused to lodge an FIR against the Army.

All the witnesses including numberdar and chowkidar corroborated statement of the complainant and categorically deposed that Army killed Hamid in custody.

Justice Kawoosa said that it has been found generally that local police keep its hand off when they are receiving information from the Army and security forces that such and such person was killed by them because he was a militant who opened fire on them.

In this case too the army after killing the deceased for no reasons dubbed him a militant and filed FIR before the police station through Lt Col Karim Khan who had deposed that the deceased opened fire on security forces so he was shot dead, Justice Kawoosa observed.

The unfortunate part of it is that when local police received the FIR from Army, they feel handicapped to investigate the case because of threat of Army or other considerations best known to them.

The deceased according to witnesses was not a militant, he said.

The commission directed the Director General of Police to direct the police officers concerned not to keep their hands off in such circumstances and register a case against Army.

It also directed the Senior Superintendent of Police Anantnag to register a case and investigate it.